Most nights I wake up at some point. The room is dark….and quiet. Everyone in the house is at rest. Only I am awake. I use the facilities, take a drink of water, and sometimes read. It’s a lonely time.

When I was in second grade I was diagnosed with Rheumatic Fever and confined to bed for two months. I had to learn to walk again when I was declared healthy. That too was a lonely time except for the few times I had company.

In today’s reading I was struck by this line in Psalm 42: “By day the LORD commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life.” (Psalm 42:8 NRSV) What a comforting picture this conjured in my mind. Even at night, that lonely, dark time, the writer was aware of a song in his heart. He was aware that this song was a prayer to God, the God of his life.

Music is a strong thread running through my life. Not until today was I aware that it could run through my awake times at night. What a beautiful thought. Even at night we can have a song, a prayer in music to the God of our life.